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Entry tags:
- fic,
- kai/xiumin,
- short,
- suho,
- 수인물
beyond the woods - [2]
pg | kai / xiumin ; suho
were-people au
notes: inspired by pete's dragon (movie).
Joonmyeon can’t help but feel his heart break for this boy.
Records show that the boy is about fourteen but the boy is small for his age and obviously underfed, though sinewy with muscle. He brings Minseok back to his house, despite the disapproving stares he gets from his co-workers. This boy has never known the warmth of a home and Joonmyeon has his mind set on showing Minseok how good a normal home can truly be.
On the ride to Joonmyeon’s home, Minseok is quiet. The child presses his face into the glass window and stares out into the passing dark landscape. Before Joonmyeon opens the door of the car and right after he turns off the engine, the boy speaks once more.
“I want to go home.”
This time he says it firmly and stares resolutely into Joonmyeon’s eyes.
Joonmyeon smiles awkwardly. How can he break it to the kid that the law doesn’t permit him to drop the kid back off at the forest?
“Minseok weren’t you lonely there?” Joonmyeon asks after a pause. “Wouldn’t it be nice to live with someone?”
Minseok shakes his head vehemently.
“I wasn’t alone. Kai was with me.”
“Kai? Who is that?”
“He’s thi--is big” Minseok stretches out his arms as wide as he can, “and has a silky black coat.”
Joonmyeon sighs. Perhaps this was a feral dog of some sort or an imaginary friend?
“But was he a family that loved you?” Joonmyeon presses gently.
Minseok pauses. Kai was family alright, but love? They had never uttered such words to each other.
“How do you love?” Minseok asks, tilting his head in confusion.
It seems like a familiar concept, but Minseok never put it together with the concept of family before. He remembered one child loved to eat pudding and another loved his toy robot. But in his murky memory, Minseok could not remember if anyone had ever loved another person nor did he recall the term being used like that.
“It’s…” Joonmyeon starts to say.
But Joonmyeon laughs in an embarrassed way, scratching the back of his head.
“It’s like this, Minseok. When you are close to someone, like you are with family or very very precious friends, you say ‘I love you’ to them.”
It’s then that Minseok looks up at Joonmyeon with a sparkle in his eye. There’s a shadow of a smile on Minseok’s face.
That night, despite the fact that it’s the first time on a comfortable, fluffy bed, Minseok can’t sleep. He feels giddy but it’s not because of the full meal he’s had for dinner. He can’t sleep because of his plans for tomorrow. When he wakes up tomorrow and goes back into the forest with Joonmyeon, the first thing he’ll tell Kai is … ‘I love you’.
***
Kai has only a few scraps of clothes and these were only acquired on Minseok’s insistence. Humans wear clothes, Minseok had insisted. And since Minseok was family, Kai tries his best always to provide a better family for Minseok.
He’s glad now that he has the clothes. He wears them and though, perhaps, they look odd on him, he can roam the streets searching for Minseok without sticking out too much -- at least not as much as he would in his original animal form.
Minseok’s scent is ephemeral in the wind as if Minseok had sped faster than he can normally run. Kai figures it’s due to these contraptions that humans use. But Kai is thankful he is not entirely human after all. He catches Minseok scent easily enough and walks down a street.
Somewhat isolated from the bustle of downtown, there is a small but quaint house. The sky is darkening and the lights turn on as Kai comes onto the driveway.
He hesitates at the door and instead, Kai creeps around the perimeter. Is Minseok truly in this house? Is he being held captive against his will? If so, Kai will need to be stealthy. For a time now, Kai had become accustomed to making a little noise -- like the rustle of leaves or the soft scraping on tree bark -- so Minseok would not be too startled at his arrival in the woods; but now, he must call on his true nature to stalk as quiet as he can around the house.
Inside, there’s a man standing in front of a flame and Kai can smell the savory scent of roasting meat. The man plates the meat and approaches Minseok, who is curled up on a couch. Kai’s heart races as he stills and watches Minseok. Minseok is grinning and he opens his mouth to say something to the man.
The man hesitates and Kai’s muscles tense as he readies to pounce if the man hurts Minseok at all. But soon the man nods and pats Minseok’s head gently. Then, what happens next makes Kai’s heart drop to the bottom of his stomach.
Minseok grins widely, showing his teeth and curving his eyes -- a display of Kai’s favorite Minseok smile.
Kai’s breath catches in his throat and slowly, his skin melts into dark fur as black as the night. Struggling in place for a few moments to find his breath and waiting for his heart to start back up, Kai sighs. This might be what Minseok needs -- a real family with real humans.
Silently, Kai pads back into the forest. The clothes he wore as a human are left discarded in the shrubs below the window.
+++++
Happy birthday
to the one and
only Xiumin ♥
were-people au
notes: inspired by pete's dragon (movie).
Joonmyeon can’t help but feel his heart break for this boy.
Records show that the boy is about fourteen but the boy is small for his age and obviously underfed, though sinewy with muscle. He brings Minseok back to his house, despite the disapproving stares he gets from his co-workers. This boy has never known the warmth of a home and Joonmyeon has his mind set on showing Minseok how good a normal home can truly be.
On the ride to Joonmyeon’s home, Minseok is quiet. The child presses his face into the glass window and stares out into the passing dark landscape. Before Joonmyeon opens the door of the car and right after he turns off the engine, the boy speaks once more.
“I want to go home.”
This time he says it firmly and stares resolutely into Joonmyeon’s eyes.
Joonmyeon smiles awkwardly. How can he break it to the kid that the law doesn’t permit him to drop the kid back off at the forest?
“Minseok weren’t you lonely there?” Joonmyeon asks after a pause. “Wouldn’t it be nice to live with someone?”
Minseok shakes his head vehemently.
“I wasn’t alone. Kai was with me.”
“Kai? Who is that?”
“He’s thi--is big” Minseok stretches out his arms as wide as he can, “and has a silky black coat.”
Joonmyeon sighs. Perhaps this was a feral dog of some sort or an imaginary friend?
“But was he a family that loved you?” Joonmyeon presses gently.
Minseok pauses. Kai was family alright, but love? They had never uttered such words to each other.
“How do you love?” Minseok asks, tilting his head in confusion.
It seems like a familiar concept, but Minseok never put it together with the concept of family before. He remembered one child loved to eat pudding and another loved his toy robot. But in his murky memory, Minseok could not remember if anyone had ever loved another person nor did he recall the term being used like that.
“It’s…” Joonmyeon starts to say.
But Joonmyeon laughs in an embarrassed way, scratching the back of his head.
“It’s like this, Minseok. When you are close to someone, like you are with family or very very precious friends, you say ‘I love you’ to them.”
It’s then that Minseok looks up at Joonmyeon with a sparkle in his eye. There’s a shadow of a smile on Minseok’s face.
That night, despite the fact that it’s the first time on a comfortable, fluffy bed, Minseok can’t sleep. He feels giddy but it’s not because of the full meal he’s had for dinner. He can’t sleep because of his plans for tomorrow. When he wakes up tomorrow and goes back into the forest with Joonmyeon, the first thing he’ll tell Kai is … ‘I love you’.
***
Kai has only a few scraps of clothes and these were only acquired on Minseok’s insistence. Humans wear clothes, Minseok had insisted. And since Minseok was family, Kai tries his best always to provide a better family for Minseok.
He’s glad now that he has the clothes. He wears them and though, perhaps, they look odd on him, he can roam the streets searching for Minseok without sticking out too much -- at least not as much as he would in his original animal form.
Minseok’s scent is ephemeral in the wind as if Minseok had sped faster than he can normally run. Kai figures it’s due to these contraptions that humans use. But Kai is thankful he is not entirely human after all. He catches Minseok scent easily enough and walks down a street.
Somewhat isolated from the bustle of downtown, there is a small but quaint house. The sky is darkening and the lights turn on as Kai comes onto the driveway.
He hesitates at the door and instead, Kai creeps around the perimeter. Is Minseok truly in this house? Is he being held captive against his will? If so, Kai will need to be stealthy. For a time now, Kai had become accustomed to making a little noise -- like the rustle of leaves or the soft scraping on tree bark -- so Minseok would not be too startled at his arrival in the woods; but now, he must call on his true nature to stalk as quiet as he can around the house.
Inside, there’s a man standing in front of a flame and Kai can smell the savory scent of roasting meat. The man plates the meat and approaches Minseok, who is curled up on a couch. Kai’s heart races as he stills and watches Minseok. Minseok is grinning and he opens his mouth to say something to the man.
The man hesitates and Kai’s muscles tense as he readies to pounce if the man hurts Minseok at all. But soon the man nods and pats Minseok’s head gently. Then, what happens next makes Kai’s heart drop to the bottom of his stomach.
Minseok grins widely, showing his teeth and curving his eyes -- a display of Kai’s favorite Minseok smile.
Kai’s breath catches in his throat and slowly, his skin melts into dark fur as black as the night. Struggling in place for a few moments to find his breath and waiting for his heart to start back up, Kai sighs. This might be what Minseok needs -- a real family with real humans.
Silently, Kai pads back into the forest. The clothes he wore as a human are left discarded in the shrubs below the window.
+++++
Happy birthday
to the one and
only Xiumin ♥